guérir French · revision 38586

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (guarir)|origins=gem-pro *warjaną}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ɡe.ʁiʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''guérir'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|guarir]], [[m|fro|garir]];^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''guerir'' is a Champagne form of the late 13th century, and ''garir'' and ''guérir'' lived side by side until the 17th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|guarir]], [[bor|frk|*warjan|t=to defend, protect]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|17, 527a) restored from [[goh|werian]] ([[de|wehren|t=to defend]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary takes the Frankish verb from [[gem-pro|*warjaną|t=to defend, guard]] and compares [[ang|werian]].^(Wiktionary) The modern form is a regional variant, first found in Champagne in 1288.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|guerir]], [[oc|garir]], [[es|guarir]] and [[it|guarire]].^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In its first record, the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050), ''guarir'' means “to protect, keep safe”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) it is used both for saving and for recovering: ''Deus le guarit qu'al cors ne l'a toché'' (“God saved him, so that it did not touch his body”).^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Used intransitively, the verb came to mean “to recover one's health” (about 1100), and by extension, of a wound, “to heal over” (1176–1181).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The transitive “to restore to health” follows about 1130 in Wace, and the pronominal ''soi garir'' in 1210–1225.^(TLFi) The figurative sense “to be relieved of a moral ill” dates from the late 12th century, transitively from 1564.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ In the 17th century La Mothe Le Vayer still defended ''guarir'', but Vaugelas noted that ''guérir'' had prevailed.^(Littré 1873) The derivative ''guérison'' followed the same path, from “protection” (1080) to “cure” (1155).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Guarir'' “to protect” in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – “To recover one's health”, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1130–1140 – Wace uses it transitively, “to restore to health”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1176–1181 – Said of a wound healing.^(TLFi)

+ * 1288 – The form ''guerir'' in Champagne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1564 – Used transitively for curing a moral ill.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 17th century – ''Guérir'' finally replaces ''garir''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(transitive)'' To [[m|en|cure]], [[m|en|heal]]: to rid someone of an illness, or to make an illness go away.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(transitive, figurative)'' To cure someone of a moral ill, a habit or a feeling.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(intransitive or pronominal)'' To [[m|en|recover]]; of a wound, to heal.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[guérison]]

+ * [[guérissable]]

+ * [[inguérissable]]

+ * [[guérisseur]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The proverb ''mieux vaut prévenir que guérir'' corresponds to English “prevention is better than cure”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}